There and back again

The fabric of my endeavors is a passion to support individuals with health- and age-related challenges in my community. This drive largely stems from a unique frame of reference from childhood that would require me reaching middle age to appreciate (before which I single-handedly knew everything about everything, of course). 

My mom, Marge Burba, founded Winter Growth, Inc., among the first adult medical day centers in Maryland, in 1979 when I was four years old. It started in our living room with Mrs. Horton, whose face still clearly comes to my mind. The first day center occupied half of a community center in Sandy Spring, MD that was converted from what had been a high school for African Americans during the days of segregation. I spent every day there after school until my mom finished work. My time was my own. I spent most of it playing with my friends, the majority of them over 80 years old. 

Recalling that time, I can choose the lens through which I look: the adult who understands they were clients attending a day program where transportation, meals, therapeutic activities, and healthcare were provided; or the child’s perception that the daily flow of life consisted of people congregating and having a good time. They weren’t clients, they were my people as I was one of theirs. Growing up this way, “community” was so foundational, so synonymous to the structure of life that it would have felt odd to say the word. It comes as no surprise that when I launched my career in healthcare, I was drawn to community health. 

Winter Growth would grow into three buildings – two with day programs, full-time residency, and respite care, the third a beautiful assisted living facility. My brother and I painted the walls on the first to go up, in Columbia, MD. The Olney, MD center was built 10 minutes from where I grew up. I worked there in many capacities during my high school years and college summers – assistant activity leader, passenger van driver, accountant’s assistant.

Upon enrolling at Ohio University, a seminal part of my college experience was studying Japanese language, culture, and history. This progressed naturally from an exploration into Buddhism and Taoism during my middle and high school years. I went on to spend 10 months in Kasugai, Japan across two studying abroad programs at Chubu University, and then my first five years after college in Tokyo, as an English teacher for a year, then as a foreign correspondent for Standard & Poor’s writing about and editing copy on commodities markets. 

Coming of age in the most collectivist society on earth was indelible. More so after returning to my home country that, arguably, values independence more than anywhere else. The tension between these two value systems greatly influences the core of my own. 

After my time in Tokyo, I moved to New York City and into a position as a technical analysis for S&P, following market trends and advising financial advisors and wealth managers. I loved the work and felt good about helping people grow wealth, providing peace of mind in retirement. That said, it was never a calling. It took the financial crises of 2009 to see this. 

S&P cut most of the staff in equity research as part of a reorganization following that crisis. It was time to blaze a new trail. Although, for me, it felt as much like a return to my roots. With a toddler, a six-year-old, and a wife whose level of support I still spend each day trying to deserve, I enrolled in Thomas Jefferson University’s Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program. 

I graduated, earned my license, and worked at Mercy LIFE, then Penn Medicine At Home, helping adults and older adults age well in the community. Being my mother’s son, I then struck out on my own. 

My career mission is helping individuals in Greater Philadelphia age well by providing support at the intersection of Person and Environment. I achieve this through health & wellness coaching for well-aging to middle-aged and older adults at Integrative Aging In Place, and creating safe, functional, and joyful spaces at home through remodeling, modification, and repair & maintenance at Boast Home Management. 

In addition to serving my community, like most of us, I value family above all. Health and wellness drives our family culture. Our means of connecting with each other is through moving our bodies and eating well – and obsessively talking about fitness and nutrition otherwise. I’m an ultramarathoner and do a couple of 50-milers a year to keep me honest. As best I can, I apply a coaching mentality to life, first acknowledging and then politely inviting my inner critic to take a hike, while trying to identify and tap my strengths in order to achieve the things that make me happy and fulfilled in life. This largely centers on the belief that self-interest and altruism are usually aligned if we understand that our greatest happiness stems from nurturing the same in others. 

At a time when cynicism, tribalism, all-or-nothing and either-or thinking, and character assassination are rewarded online, I hope this site might be an iota of an antidote. Whoever you are, whatever you believe, you deserve love and respect. I suppose building this site is one way to nurture that feeling in myself. I hope it may have some meaning for you too. Thank you for visiting.